Foldable wringer washing machine



June 1956 A. w. WHITE 2,750,784

FOLDABLE WRINGER WASHING MACHINE Filed April 23, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l F/Gl.

A Al \H4 H Inventor A tlorney June 19, 1956 w, wHlTE 2,750,784

FOLDABLE WRINGER WASHING MACHINE A. w. WHITE 2,750,784

FOLDABLE WRINGER WASHING MACHINE June 19, 1956 Filed April 23, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 V/IIIIIIIIII/nw, l !/////I// A F/GB,

M 3303mm Attorney United States Patent FOLDABLE WRINGER WASHING MACHINE Adam Watson White, Perivale, Greenford, England, as-

signor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 23, 1952, Serial No. 283,806

4 Claims. (Cl. 68-247) Thisinvention relates to washing machines of the type including a container for washing liquid and a wringer arranged to fold down into the container when not in use. In such constructions the wringer has been provided with a cranked handle to fold on either side of the wringer body to allow the wringer to fold down into the container.

According to the present invention the wringer has a cranked handle adapted to fold upwards substantially in a vertical plane so as to lie over a part of the wringer to allow it to fold down to its inoperative position, and means for retaining the handle in this position.

For example the end of the wringer body may have in it a recess extending upwardly from the handle shaft to allow the handle to fold upwardly and prevent it from moving forwards or backwards when so folded. The end wall of the wringer body on opposite sides of the recess may be so formed as to prevent the handle from folding sideways.

In prior arrangements, with the wringer mounted at the rear part of the container so as to fold forwardly and downwardly into the container, it has been possible to fold the handle over the front of the wringer. In fact to a user unaccustomed to the machine this might seem the obvious and right way of folding the handle whereas in fact if folded this way the handle would foul the rear wall of the container, and the correct way of folding it would be to the rear of the wringer. In the present arrangement the handle cannot be wrongly folded and its correct position on top of the wringer body appears the natural position even to a user seeing it for the first time. Moreover the arrangement enables the handle to lie close to the wringer casing so that the latter can be of the maximum possible length consistent with ability to fold into the container.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways but one specific embodiment will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a washing machine having a wringer shown in its operative position but with the handle folded,

Figure 2 is a front elevation partly in section showing the wringer and handle in their operative position,

Figure 3 is a similar view with the wringer folded down into the machine, and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the handle hinge showing how it is prevented from folding in an improper position.

The wringer A comprises a body A formed in a single casting to accommodate a pair of parallel wringing rollers B, and is mounted in the rear part of the open top of a generally rectangular washing machine comprising an outer casing C and a tub or container D for washing liquid. The container has a sloping shoulder D and within its upper edge are secured a pair of mounting blocks E of such thickness as slightly to overhang the lower part D of the inner surface of the tub. The wringer casting is provided with downwardly projecting lugs A through which pivot bolts F extend into the mounting blocks so that the wringer can pivot about a horizontal transverse axis to fold forwardly and downwardly into the container. The latter can then be covered by a substantially flat flanged lid G.

One end of the shaft B of the lower roller is extended through the body of the wringer and a cranked handle H is secured to it by means of a transverse hinge H A sliding sleeve H provided with a rubber hand grip and bumper sleeve H encircles the handle shaft and can be slid longitudinally to the left as shown in Figure 2 to cover the hinge and prevent folding of the handle when it is in its operative position, or can be slid to the right so as to leave the handle free to pivot as shown in Figures 1 and 3.

The end of the body of the wringer is formed with a recess or trough A extending upwardly from the lower roller shaft so that the sleeve H can lie in this recess when the handle is folded upwardly so as to overlie the top of the wringer as shown in Figure 1. On the other hand if the lower roller is turned through a right angle and an attempt is made to fold the handle forwardly or rearwardly the sleeve or the handle shaft will foul the edge of this recess as shown in Figure 4, so as to prevent the handle from being folded. Thus the user is not only enabled to fold the handle into the position shown in Figure l, which appears a natural position for it and enables it to be used to lower the wringer into its folded position, but also is prevented from folding it into other positions where it would foul the container when the wringer was folded down into it.

A further feature of the invention is that the hand grip H of the handle is closed at its outer end, thereby minimising the access of detergents to its bearings, which would tend to wash away their lubricant.

The wringer may be provided with any convenient form of latch for holding it in its operative position and if desired also in its inoperative position.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the type having a container and a wringer mounted on the container for movement between an operating position in which the wringer extends above the container and a storage position in which the wringer is folded down into the container, a horizontal axis drive shaft for said wringer extending outwardly from one end thereof, a manually operated foldable driving means for the wringer comprising a handle having a hand grip portion, a shaft portion drivingly connected to said shaft by a hinge connection and a crank portion connecting said handle grip and shaft portions and extending substantially normal to the shaft portion and spaced from the hinged joint a distance greater than the distance from the hinged joint to the top of the wringer whereby the handle may be folded in a vertical plane to place the crank portion over and along the top of the wringer and to place the shaft portion parallel to one end of the wringer to allow the wringer to be folded into said storage position, and releasable means on said shaft portion for locking said hinged connection to lock said handle against folding movement and releasable to permit said handle to be folded upwardly along one end of the wringer and means on the wringer cooperating with said shaft portion for barring rotational movement of the handle about said drive shaft when the handle is in its folded position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the said rotational movement barring means includes a vertically extending recess in the end wall of the wringer and said hinged joint is at least partly within the recess whereby the releasable means has a portion occupying the recess when the handle is in the folded position thereof.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the said rotational movement barring means includes an end wall portion of the wringer formed with vertically extending shoulders projecting on opposite-sides of the hinged connection to prevent the handle from folding sideways.

4. A wringing machine of the type having a container and a wringer mounted on the container for movement between an operating position in which the wringe'r extends above the container, and a storage position in which the wringer is folded down into the container, said wringer having a drive shaft portion extending outwardly at one end thereof and provided with a hinge, a handle foldable between an operative and an inoperative position and having a coupling at one end thereof, in cooperation with the hinge to actuate the shaft, said handle having a crank portion at the other end thereof provided with a hand grip, a sleeve mounted on the crank portion and adapted to slidahly engage over the shaft portion and the hinge, the portion of the handle between the hand grip and the sleeve being at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve, said crank portion having a part thereof in parallel relation to the top of the wringer with the longitudinal axis of the sleeve lying parallel to one end of the wringer when the handle is in inoperative position and said axis of the sleeve lying in alinement with the wringer shaft when said handle is inoperative position, said one end of the wringer adjacent the sleeve having a recess therein adapted'to receive the sleeve and its concealed parts of the handle when the handle is in inoperative position, said container having an inner wall surface thereof adapted to contact said sleeve and maintain the sleeve within the recess and the handle in inoperative position when the wringer is in storage position in the container, said recess having wall surfaces thereof adapted to limit movement of the sleeve and handle so that complete movement of the handle to inoperative position will result in positioning the sleeve within the recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 838,166 Burrows Dec. 11, 1906 1,330,260 Graham et al. Feb. 10, 1920 1,679,207 Delfoe July 31, 1928 1,743,241 Schmidt Jan. 14, 1930 1,972,778 Kennett Sept. '4, 1934 2,165,060 Krug 2 July 4, 1939 2,393,813 Rog'gan- Jan. 29, 1946 2,493,916 Gibson Jan. 10, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 325,501 Great Britain Feb. 19, 1930 492,989 GreatBritain Sept. 30, 1946 648,702 Great Britain J an. 10, 1951 

